Hot Topics:

Sports

Colorado State runs past Colorado to win Rocky Mountain Showdown

Rams roll in second half behind two-headed rushing attack

By Mike Brohard

Sports Editor

Posted:
08/29/2014 10:33:44 PM MDT

Colorado State players Deonte Clyburn (12), Garrett Grayson (18) and Elroy Masters Jr. celebrate their 31-17 victory in the stands with the fans after defeating Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Showdown on Friday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver. (Jeremy Papasso / Daily Camera)

DENVER — The question was could new backs run behind an inexperienced line — one that became even more inexperienced before the first quarter came to a close.

The answer: An emphatic yes.

With quarterback Garrett Grayson struggling much of Friday night, the Colorado State running game came to life, lifting the Rams to a 31-17 victory over Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Dee Hart, a graduate student transfer from Alabama, and Treyous Jarrells, a junior college transfer, both came up with strong introductions to an offense looking to replace Kapri Bibbs after he rushed for 1,741 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2013.

Senior left tackle Ty Sambrailo left the game with a right knee injury midway through the first quarter and was replaced by Nick Callender. That meant the Rams had four linemen making their first start and Callender was seeing his first action.

Holy Weston Richburg, they didn't seem to mind.

"That first half was a little rough, but it built throughout the game and you guys saw how we got the ball moving," said redshirt freshman Jake Bennett, who replaced Richburg at center. "Callender coming in and filling in for Sambo ... I mean, it was just filling it and we went."

Advertisement

The Rams finished the night with 266 yards rushing and had a pair of backs surpass the century mark in the same game for the first time since a win on the road at Nevada when Bradlee Van Pelt (128) an Cecil Sapp (125) did so in 2002. The last time two Rams' running backs broke the barrier, it was 1996 when Jaime Blake (138) and Calvin Branch (127) did it against Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Colorado State's Dee Hart celebrates his 8-yard rushing touchdown against Colorado during the second quarter of the Rams' victory at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Friday in Denver. (Doug Pensinger / Getty Images)

Hart broke free for 139 yards and two scores and Jarrells had 121 and one touchdown, most of the damage coming in the second half as the Rams had 81 yards on the ground at the break.

"Me and Dee have been talking about that all camp," Jarrells said. "We're both from Florida, come from the same place. I feel like he's an older brother to me. He coached me up with a lot of things, and we said we were going to try to make it happen this year."

It just took awhile, much to coach Jim McElwain's chagrin.

"It was a good football game. I thought we got off to a slow start, which drives me nuts.," he said, now 2-1 against Colorado. "It kind of felt we kind of restored the order."

Colorado struck first and held on to the lead until the third quarter, using a successful tact from last year. Sefo Liufau hit Nelson Spruce for a 54-yard score down the left side line on the Buffs' second drive of the game, and the pair hooked up again for on a 12-yard fade into the end zone, with Spruce snaring the pass with one hand. On each play, Spruce had a step on CSU corner DeAndre Elliott.

But the Rams' defensive unit deserved a lot of credit for not letting the Buffs run away in the first half, and it started with a goal-line stand to open the second quarter.

The Buffs had first-and-goal from the CSU 2 and came up empty. Christian Powell was stopped on two straight runs, the second time dead in his tracks by a charging Max Morgan. Phillip Lindsey picked up the next carry, but there was no bend.

Morgan said he couldn't take all the credit for his hit, but the team felt the tide change at that point.

"It was definitely a big momentum change for us," linebacker Aaron Davis said. "We pride ourselves on that as a defense. Just keep them out, we always say that. When we stopped them, that really changed the momentum. That was good for the rest of the game."

It led to a 23-yard field goal from Will Oliver, but later in the quarter, they forced another Oliver field goal attempt, one that sailed wide left from 41 yards out.

"I think that they started outworking us," CU quarterback Sefo Liufau said. "If you want to win football games ... Talent doesn't always get you a win. Hard work, and they outworked us us today. I'll say that. They outworked us. They're a good team."

After taking a 17-7 lead just 5:13 into the final half, the Buffs never again threatened to score. Colorado's final four drives of the game accounted for 25 plays, 95 yards, three punts and losing it on downs.

"That just swings the pendulum of momentum," Bennett said. "Our defense can do that on a consistent basis. When they do that, we know we've got to go help them out and score. You could feel it throughout the stadium. You have to build off that and go."

The offensive line made that happen, and Hart and Jarrells delivered the payoff.

Jarrells capped off a seven-play, 56-yard drive with two straight rushes, one for 17 yards, the next for 3 stopped only by the goal line. What followed was a 12-play, 92-yard drive that ate 5:15 off the clock and featured more of the run and a bit of a resurgence by Garrett Grayson.

The senior quarterback struggled in the first half, hitting just five of his 12 passes for 38 yards. But after a dropped pass on the second play of the drive, he hits his four passes, the last one a tight throw to Rashard Higgins, who made an athletic play over Greg Henderson for a 16-yard score and the Rams first lead of the game.

Colorado State then started to put the game out of reach, with Hart adding a 3-yard scoring run and kicker Jared Roberts nailing a 52-yard field goal with just 2:34 remaining.

"I can't say I envisioned it, but it was great," Hart said of teaming with Jarrells for matching 100-yard debuts at CSU. "My first game of the season, so it was a great way to start out the 2014 season."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.